Without question the headline here is Matty Young's brilliant fend and ball out of contact on debut, but also a word for Harri Wilde's pass and Iwan Stephens getting on the scoresheet in his first game for over a year. Super pleasing try all round.

Plenty of good individual showings yesterday, but James Botham was head and shoulders clear for me as Cardiff SyG. 12 carries, 19 tackles, 3 turnovers, and this absolutely brilliant solo try saver. Great to have him back fit and firing.

Cardiff 22-28 RGC FT Another second half lead lost as the Rags lose three-in-a-row for the first time since February/March 2024. Tough with call-ups to the 1s but plenty for Dan Fish & co to ponder ahead of a short turnaround to Carmarthen on Thursday. #BlueAndBlacks

Stade Francais 38-17 Cardiff FT Ran out of legs and experience in the end, but a great effort from a much-changed side for an hour. Few tries conceded too easily but plenty of bright spots too, great opportunity for the young lads to go away and build on that. #SFPvCAR

Stade Francais 5-10 Cardiff HT That’s a superb half from the young Blue & Blacks (+ a few old guys). Dealt with losing Ioan Lloyd early and probably left a few scores out there. Great stuff! #SFPvCAR

No card for that is absolutely wild 😂 #SFPvCAR

A real story of perseverance and redemption as Alun Lawrence leads Cardiff out today. Academy graduate, released, key Jersey player, club folds, short-term back to Cardiff, earns longer term deal, leads the URC in carries and tackles, and now captaining the 1st XV. Big Al 👏🏻👏🏻

406 days since Iwan Stephens last took the field, will be great to see him back involved this afternoon. Made a big impression in his run of games at the start of last season.

Big old day of rugby at CAP today; Caerau Ely U10s v Cowbridge U10s Cardiff v RGC Penarth v Lampeter Great to see 👏🏻

Here’s the Rags side to face RGC today; - Cottle & Fry into the pack - Full debut for Crimp - Williams, Goodchild & Cummings back in the backs - CDP & Moore on to the bench - Davies (Cardiff Met) called up Missing a few but hoping for a return to winning ways #BlueAndBlacks

Undoubtedly a risk in terms of losing the momentum of the winning run, but plenty of young and exciting talent there who can go out without any real pressure and express themselves. All about taking the opportunity presented.

Here's the Cardiff side to face Stade Francais; - Lloyd back from Cymru duty - Wainwright, Thornton, Botham & Basham into the pack - Bevan in at 9 - Full debuts for Smith & Young - Stephens back fit - 50 up for Grady - Possible debuts for Davies & Evans

Don't think anyone expected the likes of Assiratti or Mann back, and there's always a mental toll to being in a Wales camp even if not playing, but feels like a risk to have some players having little or no minutes for seven weeks going into Ulster next Saturday.

Winning when nobody is really looking, the impressive culture within the playing group and a proud day for Llantwit Fardre RFC as Cardiff get a bonus point win away at Zebre. cardiffrugbylife.wales/2025/12/04/v...

A shame the #CardiffClash isn’t live anywhere. Two weeks in a row there’s been no #BUCSSuperRugby live stream of any men’s game, no tweets from the account since week one (although they do post on Insta). Had a lot of momentum but failing to capitalise on that it seems.

It’s that time of year again. #SpotifyWrapped

Some good luck for Cymru at last, not only getting winnable games against sides in pots 3 & 4, but also in Pool F with a favourable Round of 16 draw against other pool runners-up. Something to aim for!

The Maul Men being the real deal, squad depth building nicely, a confusing weather forecast for Paris and where is Ed Byrne?!? All on this week’s pod ⬇️⬇️

Cardiff Rugby lit up on the Cardiff Central Station illuminations 🔵⚫️

A hat-trick for Dafydd Hughes at the back of a dominant maul, but an all-round excellent performance from the hooker. 12 tackles, 11 carries, 94% lineout. Stepped up in a huge way.

Cam Winnett looked in great nick after a few weeks off with a groin issue. Absolutely textbook high ball work as Cardiff largely dominated the skies in Parma.

Pod recording later this afternoon with Frazier, Steve & @andrewfrugby.bsky.social Send over any questions/thoughts on the win over Zebre, the Challenge Cup campaign, Stade away or the Autumn Internationals…

Great to see James Botham back in action. Hopefully can stay fit for a big fixture block at Cardiff and be back in Cymru contention for the Six Nations.

What’s Cardiff Rugby independent chair Scott Waddington up to, I wonder? Last heard from him on 18th September when he committed to a Q&A in the coming weeks. Now two-and-a-half months on and he’s involved in reviewing the bids for the club without wider supporter engagement…

James Davies-Yandle when purchasing a majority stake in the Ospreys. ⬇️⬇️ If he can throw a club that he feels that way about under the bus, what could he do to Cardiff? He is not welcome at the Arms Park, Y11 are not welcome as owners.

Cardiff’s win over Zebre was our first competitive win outside of Wales since beating Sharks in Durban in May 2024. It makes it four wins in a row, the first time we’ve done that in the league since November/December 2019, and first in all comps since September/October 2018.

The WRU announced their plans for Super Rygbi Cymru last week, and it just adds to a painfully sanitised vision of the dystopian future that awaits under the current Executive. cardiffrugbylife.wales/2025/11/30/f...

Terrific results for Scarlets and Cardiff, seriously brave showing from the Ospreys and the Dragons absolutely robbed. Perhaps the WRU are the ones who should be cut?

Fucking disgusting from Etzebeth that. Long, long ban needed. #WALvRSA

Just feel sorry for the players at this point. Put in an impossible position. #WALvRSA

Zebre 14-29 Cardiff FT That is a bloody great win! Clinical in the redzone, solid set piece, huge defensive effort. Massive squad performance, love it 🔵⚫️ #ZEBvCAR

Yes bois! Huge bonus point score at the end 💪🏻 #ZEBvCAR

Zebre 7-19 Cardiff HT Is that…THE MAUL MEN™?!? A hat-trick for Daf Hughes off the back of a dominant maul as the Blue & Blacks are in control in Parma. Need to keep the foot on the throat. #ZEBvCAR

Ioan & Steff Emanuel become the first set of brothers in a Cardiff matchday 23 since Tom & Lloyd Williams featured against Scarlets in May 2014.

Zebre are playing well at home, Cardiff have no record of performing out there in recent years and we’re missing a bunch but… This is a strong XV with a good mix of youth and quality off the bench. We’ll find out a lot about the squad as a whole today but I believe! 🔵⚫️

Cardiff 21-24 Swansea FT A head scratching season continues for the Rags who just can’t get any sort of consistency going. 21-5 up in this one but can’t see it out at the Arms Park. #BlueAndBlacks

Here's the Rags side to face Swansea tonight; - Murphy in up front - C. Hudd makes his first start as captain - Ward at 8 - ODL returns at 12 - Full debut for The Rhondda Rocket - Young back at 15 - Brooke, Phillips & Fry on to the bench Big response needed #BlueAndBlacks

Here's the Cardiff side to face Zebre on Saturday; - Barratt, Hughes, Donnell, Thomas & Big Al start in the pack - Davies & S. Emanuel join the backs - Winnett, Grady & Botham back fit - Wainwright & Bevan on to the bench - Possible debuts for Pearce, I. Emanuel, Wilde & Smit

BBC Wales are reporting it is Bath’s Max Pearce who will join the Cardiff squad away at Zebre this weekend. The 21-year-old is a former Millfield student who captained Uni of Bath in BUCS Super Rugby last season, and made his Prem Cup debut over the last few weeks.

The club have confirmed that James Botham, Elijah Evans, Mason Grady, Iwan Stephens & Cam Winnett are all fit and available for selection. Per Simon Thomas they are looking to get a hooker in on loan. Joe Cowell remains with Bedford and Josh Adams is suspended.

Brilliant opportunity for Tom Cottle and Lloyd Lucas to train with Cymru 👏🏻

Great to see Danny Southworth and Callum Sheedy getting their opportunities for Cymru this weekend. A meteoric rise for Southworth from the fringes of the Exeter squad to a key player at Cardiff, whole Sheedy's form since the start of last season has got better and better.

The wild thing is that this is a fair way off the Springboks best 23 and yet they’d probably all start for Cymru. I do think World Rugby should step in and award us a 25-point head start for a 1-7/8-15 graphic though.

Bumper episode to catch up on the last few weeks at CAP and beyond, great to have Lynn on too. Trying to get a 23 together for Zebre, the full academic record of new signings and trying to care about the South Africa game ⬇️⬇️

Llongyfarchiadau i Keiron Assiratti & Alex Mann who start for Cymru against South Africa on Saturday, as well as Danny Southworth, Callum Sheedy & Ben Thomas who are among the replacements. A nod too to former Cardiff man James Ratti 🔵⚫️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Bumper episode to catch up on the last few weeks at CAP and beyond, great to have Lynn on too. Trying to get a 23 together for Zebre, the full academic record of new signings and trying to care about the South Africa game ⬇️⬇️

Back to pod recording tonight with @bigt8409.bsky.social, @seimon76.bsky.social & @lynnglaister.bsky.social from @cf10rugbytrust.bsky.social. Send over any questions/thoughts on the latest WRU plans, Zebre, Rags and Wales’ autumn campaign…

The WRU finally starting to give supporters what they want, retaining kicks and Schrödinger’s rugby team. cardiffrugbylife.wales/2025/11/25/v...